Solicitor added costs

Niccj

Hi, could someone give me some advice please. We exchanged and completed on our house purchase yesterday all rushed through because of the situation at the moment. We were advised by the solicitor that all fees were paid from us about a week ago when we sent the deposit and the remaining solicitor fees but at 4.30pm on Thursday evening I received an email saying the lender had sent too little for the mortgage and there was a £607 shortfall. The lender fee for us to pay which was added on the loan and was also £607 and so the solicitor said it was down to them. They said if I didn't pay it then we wouldn't complete and so I sent it them with the hope of getting it back after completion from the lender or having reduced mortgage payments. I looked at everything and the completion statement that they sent was different to the invoice. The invoice was for the amount we were originally told it would cost but the completion statement had £577 extra costs on it and the solicitor said there was a £30 fee for money transfer which totals £607. They wouldn't accept that it was their error and kept saying it was the lenders error. I contacted my broker and he spoke to them and I got an email saying that they had missed off some costs and that I wouldn't get the refund of the £607. The broker agreed with me that they shiuld t have invoiced me 1 amount and charged another etc so contacted them again. I got a call at 5pm yesterday which basically said that it was their error amd the costs had to be paid by me even though these had never been mentioned previously. She offered me high street vouchers as a token of good will which I declined as I want a refund. Does anyone know where I stand with this? I think she is calling me back on Monday but I think if there is any refund offered it will only be about £200 do I accept it or am I right to challenge and go to financial ombudsman or someone? 

davidmcn

It's not clear from your post what the discrepancy is. Are these "costs" fees charged by your solicitor or something else? If it's just an arithmetical error in the completion statement then the solicitor doesn't fix the error by reaching into their own pocket, it's still your money.

Niccj

It's an error by the solicitor. There are items on the completion statement that total the amount but weren't disclosed to me and so nothing was put aside to cover them. The original letter stated that we would be charged xxx but they have increased the costs on the completion statement haven't told me and then blamed the lender. They also haven't included the additional costs on the invoice. When I have asked at least 3 times do I owe anymore money they have told me no even up to last Friday when I paid the balance they requested.

Thrugelmir

Was the product fee for the mortgage deducted from the monies that the lender sent your solicitor? 

davidmcn

Niccj said:

It's an error by the solicitor. There are items on the completion statement that total the amount but weren't disclosed to me

But what are the items? If they're things you would have had to pay for anyway then the solicitor hasn't cost you any extra money. If they're things which you should never have been charged for at all, then you might have a point.

Niccj

Yes it was. The lender sent the loan amount minus the product fee to the solicitor. The solicitor said that the shortfall was that and that it should have been sent to them but when I looked at the figures the costs that they listed in the completion statement were wrong but the invoice was different. 

Niccj

They were retention fee because I asked that they retain money from the lender as the radon levels need checking. I asked for £1000 but they requested £500 and charged me £120 for it but didn't tell me there was a cost or I would have said leave it as there wasn't such a large difference. They also charged another fee that the lady said she wasn't sure was needed but wanted to look into it and again nothing was mentioned. In my eyes if you get quoted an amount and it is needing to be changed then you should be made aware of it. They didn't even seem aware of it as they continued to blame the lender. 

Thrugelmir

Niccj said:

Yes it was. The lender sent the loan amount minus the product fee to the solicitor. 

The solicitor was expecting the full amount of the mortgage advance from the lender. As the fee was deducted. This meant that you had to transfer additional funds to the solicitor. If you had paid the product fee to the bank. Then matters would have been different. 
You most certainly haven't been overcharged. 
Without having the funds to hand the solicitor couldn't complete the transaction on your behalf. 

Thrugelmir

Niccj said:

They were retention fee because I asked that they retain money from the lender as the radon levels need checking. I asked for £1000 but they requested £500 and charged me £120 for it but didn't tell me there was a cost or I would have said leave it as there wasn't such a large difference. They also charged another fee that the lady said she wasn't sure was needed but wanted to look into it and again nothing was mentioned. In my eyes if you get quoted an amount and it is needing to be changed then you should be made aware of it. They didn't even seem aware of it as they continued to blame the lender. 

Fee estimates are just that. Additional costs do crop up depending on the actual work involved during the purchase process.  

HayleyBird25

Hello, 

My self and my partner are first time buyers currently buying our first home. We are with the solicitors but things are going slow due to the situation at the moment. We have had no contact with them so it's hard to question additional fees we have added to our sale. We have had unregistered title fee - £100 plus VAT, Land Registry fee - £190, Probate Fee - £150 plus VAT and Additional title document fee - £100 plus VAT. We are first time buyers and would like to know if these are charges that we should pay for? If the house isn't registered and is going through probate there side is that our problem and our cost? Could anyone please advise?!

csgohan4

HayleyBird25 said:

Hello, 

My self and my partner are first time buyers currently buying our first home. We are with the solicitors but things are going slow due to the situation at the moment. We have had no contact with them so it's hard to question additional fees we have added to our sale. We have had unregistered title fee - £100 plus VAT, Land Registry fee - £190, Probate Fee - £150 plus VAT and Additional title document fee - £100 plus VAT. We are first time buyers and would like to know if these are charges that we should pay for? If the house isn't registered and is going through probate there side is that our problem and our cost? Could anyone please advise?!

create a different thread as your hijacking someone's thread